hi everyone

i haven't seen a recent discussion of tires for 986s (please let me know if there is one!) and so i figured it might be good to have an updated thread for tires.

i had a post purchase inspection done on my new to me 98 986 to plan my repair/replacement strategy.

it turns out the tires date from 2002! i need a set asap.

the shop recommends michelin pilot exalto pe2 and bridgestone potenza s02.

my needs are daily driver tires that are not noisy. i don't race or track.

thank you for your help! all of you have been an amazing resource so far.

 

I have Riken Raptors ZR's from Tire Rack. They are made by Michelin in Indonesia I believe. Decent tires, decent price. Fairly quiet.

 

Put 317K miles on my 2002 Boxster. For every set of tires I just used whatever was sanctioned by Porsche. Car came with Pirelli tires and these were fine. At some point sanctioned Michelin tires became price competitive with the Pirelli tires and I switched to Michelin tires. Maybe a bit better but if so only enough to warrant a few dollars premium on the price.

Then after a few sets of Michelin tires they became unavailable -- Michelin was going through a model switch over I believe -- so I went back to Pirelli tires.

I really could not tell the difference between the two brands but the Pirelli tires I believe were a bit noisier when they got near the wear bars. But the Michelin tires were not quiet by any stretch of the imagination.

For my Turbo I used both Continental and Bridgestone tires. They were both good tires and it was just a matter of what was available when it came time to put on a new set of tires.

I have no experience with non sanctioned tires but the sanctioned ones were fine tires and I never had to worry about if the tires would prove to be ok or not. All brands lasted the same number of miles and for both cars the tire performance was consistent and very good.

So my advice would be to get a set of factory sanctioned tires. Which brand based on my experience makes no difference it is just what is available and if there is any price difference. If I had all 4 of the above brands mentioned to choose from and the price was the same I'd lean towards the Michelin tires based on my experience. But really in a blind test I could not told you which brand of tire was on which car.

 

What about oil? Have you read any good discussions on oil?

 

Starter, you are such a $hit disturber!!

 

I would call Denny at the Tire Rack, he always knows the latest and the greatest tires for Porsches

 

Well, I am half-Canadian.

 

I'm using Mobil 1, is that okay? With a half pint of MMO. Keeps those lifters quiet!

 

I'm going to try that. Have a great day, Brian!

 

I recently put Continental Extremecontact Sports on my 2001 Boxster S.

I'm by no measure an expert, but to me they are extremely quiet. I literally notice OTHER people's tire noise going down the freeway rather than my own. Truly.

They might not be as stiff as the Michelin A/S I've had before, but they are very comfortable.